Interior of the cenoby of the Essenes on a shelf of rock in the gorge of the brook Kerith. Sunrise. When the curtain rises a shepherd's pipe is heard from afar. A slight interval, and the shepherd's pipe is heard again, this time much nearer. Paul and Jesus are asleep on benches on either side of the balcony; neither awakes. Jacob appears at the end of the gallery. He advances cautiously. He is about to play his pipe again with a view to awakening the sleepers; he hesitates, decides not to do so, and advances towards them. Touching Jesus with his pipe, he awakens him. Jesus rises to his feet and signs to Jacob that he is not to speak. Jesus and Jacob come down the stage.
jacob: So the preacher found his way into the cenoby!
jesus: A great knocking came at our door, and I gave him the bed that Manahem and Saddoc were making for me.
jacob: But his fellow—where is he?
jesus (pointing to Paul): He asked for his fellow, and we knowing nought of him, he got himself to his feet saying he must seek Timothy; but he fell into our arms whilst talking, and has lain all night in sleep deep as the sea yonder.
jacob: I wonder if his dreams are of Jordan, for the twain made escape through a yellow swirl of water that no man would have dared his life into but to save it. But he told you all?
jesus: No more than that they hid themselves in a cave.
jacob: And seeing them carried down to the sea, the people laughed and clapped their hands, saying: They will drink of bitterness before they drown, and if they drown not, we shall take them in Moab. A crafty device it may have been to keep to the bank they plunged from, or belike a sudden flux in the current carried them out of sight and up a shelving strand, whence they escaped into the hills, for they did not cross Jordan.
